I have enjoyed feeding birds in my garden for some months now?

Question

and have a variety of species coming for a variety of foods. It's great to see the young birds coming and eating from the table too. The problem - ( a well, some of you wont see this as a problem), is that now I have Buzzard preying on the birds at my feeder. The question is - am I interfering with nature, attracting so many birds to one area, creating a honeypot for the buzzard, or do I accept that the buzzard has to live too and by feeding garden birds, I am helping their survival.

I really am in a dilema here and wonder what I should do for the best. Interested in your views on this, thanks.

Answer 1

i didn't see any problem anywhere.. what i know is you are a very generous and kind-hearted person.. while some people prefer to kill birds, your love to birds is so amazing.. you feed them.. it makes us feel really good right..

Answer 2

Buzzard? You must be in England or Europe. There are no buzzard in North America.

Yes, by attracting birds to a feeder you are also attracting bird predators. This is some what natural, especially for the predator. I would consider it a part of nature and just not worry about it. Even though attracting birds to a feeder is not natural. Birds should be foraging. Most birders are well aware of this and accept that an occasional song bird is gonna get taken. Remember, all most all birds are protected.

I have several bird predators I see once in a while, the pigeon hawk and American kestrel. I saw a bobcat one time in my back yard, so I am attracting it as well. I have regular visits from two fox. There is one nuisance animal you should never tolerate. The common house cat. I would recommend taking serious action to keep cats away.

Answer 3

I have bird feeders in my garden , as many folk in UK do . As you say it is enjoyable the various species pop in and out during the seasons and this helps with their diet and support young birds.
Being on the west coast of Scotland the only big birds (feathered !!) I see are seagulls !! certainly not buzzards you lucky thing , nearest I got was a hawk
The bird species you feed are benefit ting from your support and helping to breed more for future .
The Buzzard will find birds anyway , its natural process that he / she has to feed somewhere . So go on feeding and enjoy

Answer 4

the only difference is that you are witnessing a buzzard trying to feed itself - it would do this anyway. It is a very good thing that you are feeding birds.

My mum's quite funny because she goes out the front door and shouts on the birds and they come flying down for food!! She has had a similar problem in the past with sparrows and a sparrow halk. But as I said, it's just nature - it'll happen anyway.

Keep up the good work!

Answer 5

I suppose you could think of it as "interfering with nature" if you want, but you could also think of it as "supplying a rich, dependable food source, like an oasis" if you want. That's the hard reality that most of us don't realize - wherever there's a high concentration of food, the eaters will come. So, you're not just feeding the seedeaters, you're also feeding the seedeater-eaters. It's part of the game. They deal with it normally anyway, and this is an unusual opportunity for you to see a bird that you wouldn't normally get such a close-up view of.

Answer 6

One thing you could try is adding some shelter to your yard, like a shrub, or moving the feeders closer to the shelter. This might give the little birds a better chance to run for cover. However, raptors have to eat too.

Answer 7

you might have a hawk but a buzzard cant catch a smaller bird

Answer 8

This is a hard one. I watched a kestrel grab a bird from a friend's feeder recently.
I would make sure that you have enough bushes nearby to allow the birds to dive into them for safety.

Answer 9

Keep feeding!

The buzzard will eat anyway!

Answer 10

YA KEEP ON FEEDING THE BIRDS. ITS A PART OF THE LIFE CYCLE IN ORDER 2 SURVIVE THEY HAVE 2 FEED ON OTHERS. SO NO HARM DONE.